New Malayali Hitman Targets Dubai Keralites

DUBAI - There is a new hit wave in Dubai - the sweet and tintillating music from Hit -96.7 FM radio. Heralding a new trend in Malayalam radio broadcasting from the hub of Middle East media, Arabian Radio Network has roped in a team of young radiostars from Kerala to lure the upper middle class music loving Keralite community in Dubai to a frequency which was earlier used as an English radio station. Many Dubai Malayalis are now tuning to Hit 96.7, the latest Malayalam FM channel that entertains the overseas Keralites here with a mix of music and film based programmes sandwiched with periodic news bulletins and sports news.

Coming from the Arabian Radio Network that owns Dubai TV and other high profile radio stations in the UAE, Hit 96.7 is headed by Ajith Menon, a radio personnel who started his interest in radio waves almost three decades ago. Menon, an electrical engineer from Kerala, was one of the brains behind Times FM, the first FM station in Bombay that created a new trend in Indian radio transmission. Even though FM radio did not take off in a democratic country like India due to the short sighted government policy and market situation, he fortunate enough to head a radio station with more flexibility.

Menon is happy that he is heading a radio station that is creating waves among the music loving Gulf Keralites in Dubai. Talking to KM he recalled the 1970s when radio was the only popular medium with wide reach. "I used to tune to almost all the important radio stations in the world like Ceylon radio from Sri Lanka, BBC, Voice of America and Kuwait radio. I used to search and find out the frequencies of such radio stations," Menon says. In an exclusive interview with Keralamonitor editor V.M.Sathish, he said that he used thick copper wire as an antennae on top of a coconut tree in front of his home to attract even weak radio waves to the bulky valve radio, the ancestor of transmitter radio.

Those days, radio sets used to be powered with bulky vacuum tube which was later replaced by the tiny transistors that considerably reduced the radio size. "My uncle Ramachandra Menon who was working in the merchant navy donated a new valve radio to me. Those days it was difficult to get a good radio set in India. Listening to various English programmes, I used to scan different stations and write to the radio stations in inland letters. "If you write the code and signal strength of radio stations, they used to send QSL - card in recognition of your messages. QSL are messages that contained the Radio Communication code and an acknowledgement card with the presentator's photo, frequent programme content plus signal quality," he said." Collecting QSL cards and exchanging radio frequency was my childhood hobby. After listening to different radio stations, I used to write to them and collect QSL cards. I had a collection of 100 QSLs from different radio stations around the world.

They included Holland radio, Netherlands, Germany," he added. In those days, QSL was the best medium to contact others interested in radio. The signal strength of short wave radios depended on weather conditions and QSC was the only feedback method for various radio stations. Those who wrote to radio stations received small gift items like T-shirts, caps etc. I maintained QSL cards from 100 countries. When he joined Times FM Bombay with the founding team, Menon was fortunate to visit some of the popular radio stations in the world. It was a unique moment for him to visit Bush House, the BBC Headquarters and meet radio specialists there during an overseas visit as part of Times FM training programme. "All India Radio, Sri Lankan Radio and BBC were popular radio stations in those days. I used to tune to Seychelles Radio and Manila Radio from the Philippines. Since radio waves strength depended on weather conditions, they are available in the night when the ultra violent rays were weak," he added.. "In order to avoid disturbance to others sleeping members of the family, I bought a headphone," he recollects. The radio interest, which started in the school days, continued to the college days. While doing Mathematics degree at the Devagiri college, radio technology changed and transistor radios entered the market. Subsequently there was a total change in the radio communication technology from transister to integrated circuits and chips. Now the world is witnessing new trends like Internet radio and satellite radio stations. "After joining Times FM, Menon could visit prominent radio stations like Singapore Radio, Swiss, Nepal, Poland, Paris and the UK. BBC Bush House radio office has all the latest facilities. Similarly Polsky Radio in Switzerland also is the most modern station in Europe Lebanon's Radio One is also a good regional station. When the Times group started the first five private FM stations from Bombay. Delhi, Calcutta Madras and Goa Menon was an active member of the founding team.

While working with World Space, a US company with Banglore operations, Menon had a chance to be involved in setting up Middle East beam to set up a radio station in Beirut. Lebanon and Egypt are the two hubs of Arab radio broadcasting. It was for the first time in India that such an FM radio system was introduced in the country. From Banglore he has worked for a satellite based radiobroadcasting company, World Spec, which is the only satellite radiobroadcasting company using their wn dedicated satellite. The Washington based company has three satellites to cover radio broad casting all over the world. Later on the Indian government withdrew license to the FM stations and the radio stations went off the air. Along with the Times of India group, Mid Day also started an FM radio using the same frequency. The government leased different time slot to Times and Mid Day. "When the government announced fresh bids for FM frequencies, almost all the big companies applied and the bid amount was too high that none of the winners could viably operate a radio station. All operators opted out of the deal and the FM radio project remains at standstill. In Kerala, BPL Innovation was planning to enter FM radio broadcasting in a big way. Even though they got the Kochi Banglore Indigo license to start FM stations, the idea of Kochi FM was abandoned due to economic reasons," he said. "Now All India Radio wanted to start an FM station and no one is utilizing the frequency, which is used as a relay for Vividha Bharathi. In India the license fee is a major reason for keeping many players from entering FM radio business. While the government has no problem with news transmission by TV stations, why should it restrict news broadcast using radio? asks Menon. There is no logic behind the government policy," he added.

Arabian Radio Network Malayalaam Station

When ARN wanted to start a Malayalam FM Station from Dubai targeting the Keralite community here, Menon got an offer through some friends who work in the Hindi division of the company. Menon came to Dubai last year to prepare the groundwork for Hit 96.7 FM. "We have studied the market very well and decided to use the frequency 96.7 which was used by an English radio station. They wanted to use it for different communities and the Malayalam language was selected on the basis of the huge Keralite population in Dubai. The station is intended to pass on valuable information to the community and entertain them with music. "Despite being hailing from a democratic country, I could not broadcast news through radio. However, I am able to do it in Dubai, which speaks volumes about the visionary leadership in the UAE. While the Indian overnment has not allowed a private FM station to broadcast news, here I am able to do it every one hour," he added. Entertainment is the other focus area of Hit 96.7. "A huge amount of entertainment for the Keralite community is music. Music and movies are closely interlinked. Unlike other expatriate communities here, the album culture is not important to the Keralite community in Dubai. Non movie based programmes and cover other aspects of the community life here," he added.

Disclosing the technical details of FM and AM radio stations he said: "Amplitude Module radio offer a very wide coverage and an FM station from Dubai could reach any country in the region. However its bandwidth is limited and the quality of sound reception in some locations will be poor. As it is prone to atmospheric influences, AM radio wave is used mainly to deliver speech and voice over a large area. AM radio stations suffer from lot of disturbances and influences. However, FM radio waves (Frequency Modulated) reception is of high quality and it is a good medium of transmission within sixty to 90 kms from the transmitter.

"FM is good for stereo quality sound transmission. Stereo, the depth and space of sound, is effective using FM radio waves. 'Music programmes require stereo quality transmission which only FM radio can offer. FM stations are good for city coverage," he added. AM radio can cover many countries and the latest technology is satellite based radio broadcast, which incorporates FM, mobile phones integrated systems. In the case of Internet radio, access is limited to PC users and TV remains a main medium of entertainment. In the case of radio, the equipment is very cheap and many mobile phones have incorporated an additional radio feature. Thanks to competition and Chinese products, the price of a radio set has come down to as low as Dhs.5. Now each broadcaster is focusing on their more focused and segmented audience, he said. Interactivity is not yet part of TV transmission and in radio transmission the listener is part of the programme. Using Web based chat facility, instant messengers and mobile technology, radio transmission is going to be more interactive. "The response to the SMS trend started by Hit 96.7 is tremendous and more listeners are participating in the interactive programmes. The next generation will carry wearable convergence of net, email, and all other facilities merged with entertainment on demand," he added.

The radio station is functioning from a state of the art office on the second floor of CNN building in the Dubai Media City and the transmission tower is located on top of the Emirate4s Tower. "Almost all high rise buildings in the world have their radio transmission towers. Twin Towers in the US, Petronas building in Malaysia and Eiffel Towers in Paris have their transmission facility. The Emirates Sound waves from the station is converted into weak radio waves using the Emirates Tower transmitter which amplifies the weak radio signal into 60 KW capacity," he added.

Menon hails from a middle class family (Unnikandathu - Calicut) and his father Rajagopala Menon was a senior bureaucrat of the state government - he retired as the Transport Commissioner. "My mother lives with a sister in Canada and my younger brother is a chartered accountant in the UK. Being the son of a government employee, he has traveled all over the state and studied in different locations. His wife is a State Bank of India official who has taken voluntary retirement from the bank.

"Hit FM 96.7 is one of the most advanced radio stations in the world as the technology and transmission facility is comparable to any digitally integrated outside broadcasting. We are very much ahead of others. Our mission is to be the best without any compromise on quality. We have decided to go for fresh talents and recruited artists from Kerala who have some experience there. Our team consists of Nyla who was running a programme Global Greetings, Shabu John is from All India Radio, Mithun is a budding actor who has starred in many movies and serials. Krishnan, Shalu Faizal and Dileep are all having some experience in Radio and Television field," he added.. (by V.M.Sathish Editor KM)

f Al Saygh, annterprising radio entertainer familiar .

Abdel Latif Al Sahyegh Managing Director Arabian Radio Network.